Open all primary schools immediately to avert a 'learning crisis', say Experts

BENGALURU: A group of 21 educationists and academicians have warned of a “learning crisis among children of standards 1 to 5 and pointed at a disastrous fallout over not reopening their classes."

Explaining the learning crisis, the academicians, led by Niranjanaradhya VP, Senior Fellow, Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of Indian University (NLSIU), said in a statement endorsed and issued on Sunday: "This overall loss of learning — regression or forgetting of what children had learnt in the previous classes plus the current year loss — is going to lead to a cumulative loss over the years, impacting not only the academic performance of children but also their adult lives."

The Azim Premji Foundation research covering multiple states of India, released last week, had found that 92 per cent of children on average have lost at least one specific language ability from the previous year across all classes.

At least 82 per cent of the children on average have lost at least one specific mathematical ability from the previous year across all classes.  The closure of schools and the apparent reluctance of the education department to reopen classes 1-5 would not only lead to children — especially from underprivileged backgrounds — suffer academic loss, but the social loss too is likely to impact the younger children as the initial years are very critical for socialization. Neglecting classes 1–5 is likely to lead to much higher, devastating dropping-out-of-schools by students over the next decade, they said.  

To blunt this disastrous impact, the educationists from across the state have, on the behalf of students, parents, teachers and the schools, demanded that all primary schools be allowed to open fully and immediately while continuing hygiene measures and precautions.  

They have also demanded to be allowed to provide their inputs to the decision-makers, including the Technical Approval Committee.

"No spike in Covid-19 cases has been reported across the entire state. Plus it is an accepted medical fact that Covid-19 has the least impact on young children, and hence it is completely inexplicable why medical reasons are cited for keeping classes 1–5 closed. In any case, these children and their families are interacting with others in their communities, within which their schools are located, so opening schools will not create much more risk," they said.

They said, "Keeping only schools shut seems a callous approach towards the children of the disadvantaged sections of society. Keeping children out of school has created a learning crisis with serious and severe long term damage."

Citing the example of Andhra Pradesh, which has reopened classes 1 to 5, the educationists have insisted that Karnataka must follow suit.